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A brief overview of the Smith campaign
The campaign of Joseph Smith Jr. and the newly formed Reform Party during the election of 1844 is often looked at as a blueprint for grassroots movements. Over three hundred electioneers departed from Nauvoo, going to every state and territory to spread Smith's platform. In general people were impressed with the platform and many of the church's most affluent speakers including ten of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were counted among the electioneers.
Of course these electioneers also took time to proselyte and faced many adversities because of their faith. Still the efforts of these men did much to spread the word of Smith's candidacy and win voters, as well as bring to light the plights the Mormons had faced in places like Missouri.
Joseph Smith himself was not idle often campaigning throughout Illinois. Smith also appealed to his acquaintance in Washington and future Attorney General and President Stephen A. Douglas, then a member of the House of Representatives to lobby for him. The following is a Smith sent to Douglas:
Dear Representative Douglas,
I hope this letter finds you well. As you are no doubt aware I am running for the office of the Presidency. When we met last year you made a very good impression on me. I ask for your help in my campaign. I petition for you to lobby for me in Washington. I feel this campaign is the only way for my people to find restitution for the crimes committed against us in Missouri. Even if you do not feel inclined to endorse me politically I implore you to at last support me in this matter.
Sincerely,
Joseph Smith Jr.
Douglas' interaction with Smith in 1843 is well-documented and it was recorded that he was sympathetic to the Saints. Douglas became an outspoken advocate for the LDS church and Smith's candidacy, even going so far as to join the reform party.
The reasons for this may have been more selfish than altruistic however. During that dinner in 1843 where the two future Presidents met Joseph Smith made a prophecy concerning Douglas:
Dined with Judge Stephen A. Douglas, who is presiding at court. After dinner Judge Douglas requested President Joseph to give him a history of the Missouri persecution, which he did in a very minute manner, for about three hours. He also gave a relation of his journey to Washington city, and his application in behalf of the Saints to Mr. Van Buren, the President of the United States, for redress and Mr. Van Buren's pusillanimous reply, "Gentlemen, your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you;" and the cold, unfeeling manner in which he was treated by most of the senators and representatives in relation to the subject, Clay saying, "You had better go to Oregon," and Calhoun shaking his head solemnly, saying, "It's a nice question—a critical question, but it will not do to agitate it."
The judge listened with the greatest attention and spoke warmly in depreciation of the conduct of Governor Boggs and the authorities of Missouri, who had taken part in the extermination, and said that any people that would do as the mobs of Missouri had done ought to be brought to judgment: they ought to be punished.
President Smith, in concluding his remarks, said that if the government, which received into its coffers the money of citizens for its public lands, while its officials are rolling in luxury at the expense of its public treasury, cannot protect such citizens in their lives and property, it is an old granny anyhow; and I prophesy in the name of the Lord God of Israel, unless the United States redress the wrongs committed upon the Saints in the state of Missouri and punish the crimes committed by her officers that in a few years the government will be utterly overthrown and wasted, and there will not be so much as a potsherd left, for their wickedness in permitting the murder of men, women and children, and the wholesale plunder and extermination of thousands of her citizens to go unpunished, thereby perpetrating a foul and corroding blot upon the fair fame of this great republic, the very thought of which would have caused the high-minded and patriotic framers of the Constitution of the United States to hide their faces with shame. Judge, you will aspire to the presidency of the United States; and if ever you turn your hand against me or the Latter-day Saints, you will feel the weight of the hand of Almighty upon you; and you will live to see and know that I have testified the truth to you; for the conversation of this day will stick to you through life.
He [Judge Douglas] appeared very friendly, and acknowledged the truth and propriety of President Smith's remarks.
-Taken from the diary of William Clayton, Joseph Smith's secretary.
It's quite possible that with Smith's platform gaining steam, his ideas for abolition with compensation even being well received in Kentucky tat Douglas saw a potential Smith presidency as his own ticket to the top. The prophecy no doubt echoed in his head as he made these decisions.
- Excerpt from The Presidency That Changed America, Frank Louis, 2014.
Of course these electioneers also took time to proselyte and faced many adversities because of their faith. Still the efforts of these men did much to spread the word of Smith's candidacy and win voters, as well as bring to light the plights the Mormons had faced in places like Missouri.
Joseph Smith himself was not idle often campaigning throughout Illinois. Smith also appealed to his acquaintance in Washington and future Attorney General and President Stephen A. Douglas, then a member of the House of Representatives to lobby for him. The following is a Smith sent to Douglas:
Dear Representative Douglas,
I hope this letter finds you well. As you are no doubt aware I am running for the office of the Presidency. When we met last year you made a very good impression on me. I ask for your help in my campaign. I petition for you to lobby for me in Washington. I feel this campaign is the only way for my people to find restitution for the crimes committed against us in Missouri. Even if you do not feel inclined to endorse me politically I implore you to at last support me in this matter.
Sincerely,
Joseph Smith Jr.
Douglas' interaction with Smith in 1843 is well-documented and it was recorded that he was sympathetic to the Saints. Douglas became an outspoken advocate for the LDS church and Smith's candidacy, even going so far as to join the reform party.
The reasons for this may have been more selfish than altruistic however. During that dinner in 1843 where the two future Presidents met Joseph Smith made a prophecy concerning Douglas:
Dined with Judge Stephen A. Douglas, who is presiding at court. After dinner Judge Douglas requested President Joseph to give him a history of the Missouri persecution, which he did in a very minute manner, for about three hours. He also gave a relation of his journey to Washington city, and his application in behalf of the Saints to Mr. Van Buren, the President of the United States, for redress and Mr. Van Buren's pusillanimous reply, "Gentlemen, your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you;" and the cold, unfeeling manner in which he was treated by most of the senators and representatives in relation to the subject, Clay saying, "You had better go to Oregon," and Calhoun shaking his head solemnly, saying, "It's a nice question—a critical question, but it will not do to agitate it."
The judge listened with the greatest attention and spoke warmly in depreciation of the conduct of Governor Boggs and the authorities of Missouri, who had taken part in the extermination, and said that any people that would do as the mobs of Missouri had done ought to be brought to judgment: they ought to be punished.
President Smith, in concluding his remarks, said that if the government, which received into its coffers the money of citizens for its public lands, while its officials are rolling in luxury at the expense of its public treasury, cannot protect such citizens in their lives and property, it is an old granny anyhow; and I prophesy in the name of the Lord God of Israel, unless the United States redress the wrongs committed upon the Saints in the state of Missouri and punish the crimes committed by her officers that in a few years the government will be utterly overthrown and wasted, and there will not be so much as a potsherd left, for their wickedness in permitting the murder of men, women and children, and the wholesale plunder and extermination of thousands of her citizens to go unpunished, thereby perpetrating a foul and corroding blot upon the fair fame of this great republic, the very thought of which would have caused the high-minded and patriotic framers of the Constitution of the United States to hide their faces with shame. Judge, you will aspire to the presidency of the United States; and if ever you turn your hand against me or the Latter-day Saints, you will feel the weight of the hand of Almighty upon you; and you will live to see and know that I have testified the truth to you; for the conversation of this day will stick to you through life.
He [Judge Douglas] appeared very friendly, and acknowledged the truth and propriety of President Smith's remarks.
-Taken from the diary of William Clayton, Joseph Smith's secretary.
It's quite possible that with Smith's platform gaining steam, his ideas for abolition with compensation even being well received in Kentucky tat Douglas saw a potential Smith presidency as his own ticket to the top. The prophecy no doubt echoed in his head as he made these decisions.
- Excerpt from The Presidency That Changed America, Frank Louis, 2014.
- Neshomancer
- Word Count: 880